See Map for a Guide to Parks and Protected Areas

Transcription

COSTA RICA PROTECTED ÁREAS
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1. Parque Nacional Santa Rosa
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18. Refugio de Vida Silvestre Caño
Negro
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3. Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas
y Refugio de Vida Silvestre Tamarindo
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19. Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja
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31. Reserva Biologica Islas Guayabo,
Negritos y Pájaros
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32. Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre
Curú
16. Parque Nacional Tortuguero
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17. Refugio de Vida Silvestre Barra
del Colorado
33. Parque Nacional Juan Castro
Blanco
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34. Parque Nacional Isla del Coco
2. Parque Nacional Guanacaste
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4. Reserva Nacional Absoluta de Cabo
Blanco
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5. Parque Nacional Barra Honda
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13. Parque Nacional Corcovado
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15. Parque Nacional Cahuita
6. Parque Nacional Palo Verde
7. Reserva Biológica Lomas Barbudal
8. Refugio de Vida Silvestre Ostional
9. Parque Nacional Carara
10. Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
11. Parque Nacional Ballena
12. Reserva Biológica de Isla del
Caño
14. Refugio de Vida Silvestre
Gandoca-Manzanillo
20. Parque Nacional Arenal
21. Parque Nacional Volcán Poás
22. Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo
23. Parque Nacional Volcán Irazú
24. Monumento Nacional de Guayabo
25. Parque Nacional Orosi (Tapantí)
26. InterParque Nacional La Amistad
27. Reserva Biologica Hitoy-Cerere
28. Parque Nacional Chirripó
29. Refugio de Vida Silvestre Golfito
30. Refugio de Vida Silvestre Isla
Bolaños
(Patrimonio de la Humanidad)
1-Santa Rosa National Park
Size: 49,515 hectares.
Distance from San José: 260 kilometers.
Trails: Yes, from 1 to 20 km.
Dry season: January through March.
Santa Rosa National Park was created in 1971 to
commemorate and preserve the historical setting
of the Battle of Santa Rosa (March 20, 1856)
including the historical mansion and the
stonewall corrals. Moreover, it protects the
savannah and decidious forest, marshlands, and
mangroves, and abundant animal life, including
several endagered species. It also has lovely
recreational beaches.
Much has changed since then, Santa Rosa
National Park now protects remaining
fragments of tropical dry forest, housing
many different species of flora and fauna,
such as coyotes, peccaries, coatimundis,
tapirs, jaguarundy, margay, jaguars,
ocelots, armadillo, and many varieties of sea
and land turtles.
You can expect to find wooden savanna on both
sides of the entrance road and all throughout the
park. These grasslands are not a natural
occurrence, but the result of extensive slash and
burn practices.
There is a new addition to the park, the
Murcielago or "Bat" section, located in the
southeast of the town called Cuajiniquil, on
the Santa Elena Peninsula, consisting mostly
of spectacular rocky peaks and valleys,
which currently are undergoing serious
ecological reforestation efforts.
2-Guanacaste National Park
Size: 700 square kilometres.
Camping: Permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: January to March
Guanacaste National Park, located on the east
side of the Interamerican Highway across from
Santa Rosa National Park, was created in 1989
to protect the volcano slope evergreen forest
and the Orosi and Cacao volcanoes' cloud
forests. This project was founded to help
secure a migration route for those animals that
move into the highlands during the dry season.
The park contains several interesting trails and
four research stations, of which at least one
will remain open for tourists, researchers and
photographers. In December 1999, the Area de
Conservación Guanacaste was declared by the
UNESCO as a Natural Heritage Site of
Humanity.
Wildlife in the park is varied; 140 species of
mammals, over 300 birds, 100 amphibians and
reptiles, and over 10,000 species of insects have been
identified. The most common mammals are howler
monkeys, white-faced capuchins, long-nosed
armadillos and coatis. There are also collared
peccaries, pocket mice, white-tailed deer, pumas,
ocelots, black hawks, and many others.
Positioned at the foot of the Orosi volcano lies
Maritza Biological Station where one can find
hills that are relics of Plio-Cuaternary
volcanoes and plains formed by the
accumulation of ash, pyroclasts and
ignimbrites. The western slope of these
volcanoes is covered with evergreen rain
forests. Trees here can grow up to 30 meters in
height, and the predominating species are the
Santa María, Tempisque and the Monkey
Apple.
3-Las Baulas National Park
Size: 612 hectares.
Distance from San José: 321
kilometers.
Trails: Yes. Along the beach
Dry Season: January through March.
Four hundred and forty hectares of this park
consist of a mangrove swamp at Tamarindo.
There are six known species of mangrove
that grow on this pacific coast, where an
abundance of black mangrove can be found,
suggesting concentrations of salt in the soil
of Tamarindo swamp.
Playa Grande is a very important nesting
beach for the leatherback turtle (Baula is the
Spanish name for this species). This is the
world's largest and most wide-ranging sea
turtle, nesting in beaches from Surinam to
Malaysia and some individuals have been
found as far north as Iceland and
Scandinavia. Leatherbacks arrive at
Tamarindo in early October and nest until
March, with the peak of activity occurring
during November and December.
Pottery has been found at the archeological
sites of Matapalo and Herta Aguacate,
adjacent to the park. The artifacts found are
mainly bowls of different sizes that are
decorated with blackish coffee colored
engobe, and complicated geometrical
designs.
The park is located on the Nicoya peninsula,
near the town of Salinas, heading on
Highway 21 to Filadelphia (26 kilometers),
then 25 kilometers to Huacas and finally 8
more to Matapalo on a dirt road.
4-Cabo Blanco Absolute Reserve
Size: 1,172 hectares in-land and 1,700
hectares in the ocean.
Trails: Yes.
Dry Season: November through April.
Cabo Blanco Biological Reserve,
established in 1963, is the only government
protected area created before the inception
of the park service in 1970 that has
survived to this day.
The reserve occupies the southernmost tip
of the Nicoya peninsula and protects the
largest tract of an extremely important
example of mixed evergreen and
deciduous moist tropical forest in the area.
The place is home to many rare and
threatened species, including curassows,
crested guan, brocket deer and jaguarundi,
along with some more common species
like howler monkeys, raccoons and
kinkajous. There are excellent tide pools
along the coast, and Isla Cabo Blanco is a
very important seabird-breeding site.
5-Barra Honda National Park
Size: 2.295 hectares.
kilometers.
Trails: Yes.
Barra Honda National Park was created in
1971 to protect its famous cave systems.
Although most of the park has been cut over
in the past, wildlife is fairly abundant and
increasing with protection. A good trail
system takes the visitors to the caves,
where unusual limestone formations offer
spectacular views. The park is located east
of the town of Nicoya, on the northern part
of the Nicoya Penincula.
Barra Honda Peak has a vast system of
independent caves, nearly 42, of which
only 19 have been explored. This caverns
are renowned for their pristine condition
and conservation efforts have helped to
retain all the geo-biological features of the
area. Vertical entrances to the caves
require special equipment and trained
professionals.
There is little variety of wildlife, some
resident species are white faced capuchin
monkeys, coyotes, armadillos and skunks,
as well as snakes and reptiles.
The park service personnel (radio # 334070) can take you in and out of caves, or
guide you on how to do this and where to
go once in the park.
6-Palo Verde National Park
Camping: Permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Palo Verde National Park protects a portion of
what is called the Río Tempisque lowlands, an
amazingly diverse patchwork of habitats,
including freshwater and saltwater marshes,
deciduous, riparian and evergreen forests; and
mangrove swamps.
The marshes are an extremely important
stopover point for migratory animals and in
January and February the largest concentration
of wading birds in Central America can be
found here.
The park's many birds migrate to the region
during the dry season, including storks, egrets,
ibis, grebes and spoonbills. Pajaros Island (Isla
de Pajaros), in the middle of the Tempisque
River, is particularly eye-catching as it is home
to many exotic bird species. The island is the
largest nesting site for the black-crowned
night-herons in Costa Rica and boasts other
avian exotics such as the great curassow,
toucans and macaws
The Catalina sector of the park, in the
northeast area, contains interesting primary
forest, but no trails per se. It's common to see
animals like pizotes, querques, collared
peccaries, coatis, white tailed deer, spotted
skunks, white-face monkeys, iguanas and
many more.
7-Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve
"The insects Park"
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: January through March
Lomas Barbudal is often referred as the
"insect park", because of the immense
variety of insects found here, 240 species of
bees have been recorded, along with 60
species of moths.
The reserve protects interesting examples of
dry tropical forest, along with patches of
evergreen and riparian forests. Several
species of endangered trees can also be
found here, like mahogany and redwood, as
well as the Panama redwood.
There is a refreshing swimming hole, or
"poza" as it's called in spanish, containing
many different fish, and if you bring a mask
and snorkel it's well worth taking a look
around. This "oasis" is located 300 meters
upstream from the visitors center.
This reserve is located on the southwest part
of Bagaces, north of Liberia, in the
Guanacaste province.
At the reserve, if you are lucky, you will
know the person who used to guard and
protect this beautiful place (voluntary) Don
Daniel, an old dedicated simple man. He is
very funny and a real kind person; worry
about the reserve protection and
preservation. If you stay enough time, you
will hear from him a lot of very interesting
stories about the zone and his own life.
At the reserve you will find a lot of beautifull
birds like the Trogon and the Trogon
Elegante, mammals like dears, white faced
monkeys, haulers monkeys (congos), coati
mundi (or pizotes), deers, guatuzas (kind of
big rodent), Owls, and a lot of reptiles.
9-Carara National Park
kilometers.
Trails: Yes.
Dry Season: November through April.
Carara National Park is a must for anyone
interested in tropical biology. Its high species
diversity and ease of access make this a
worthwhile trip from San José, or on the way
to points further south. The park is located
between the dry forests of the north and the
humid ones of the south and it is the result of
this situation in an "ecotone" or melding area
that gives Carara its diversity. There are trails
that go through both zones where you can
appreciate the forest's exuberance and if lucky
enough spot some animal species which
inhabit it.
Many endangered and threatened species live
and breed here, like the American crocodile.
Carara is also considered a sanctuary of the
rare and beautiful Scarlet Macaw, the park's
symbol which is on the endangered list. In the
park there are approx 200 couples which live
and breed in absolute freedom.
The word "Carara" is an indigenous term,
reputedly meaning "river of crocodiles". The
area in which the reserve is located was
occupied by an indigenous culture that is
thought to have been allied with groups
located in the Central Valley from 300 B.C. to
1500 A.D. Extensive tomb sites have been
excavated here, and the burial places of people
of high status are remarkably complex.
The best time to visit Carara is early in the
morning or late in the afternoon.
Park hours are 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.
10-Manuel Antonio National Park
Size: 682 hectares.
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: December through March
Manuel Antonio National Park, lying on the
pacific coast 7 kilometers south of the town
of Quepos between Damas and Matapalos,
was created in 1972 at a time when the area
was poised for massive tourism
development, founded primarily by foreign
interests. The land constituting the park had,
by then, gone through several different
foreign owners. Today, the park protects a
beautiful remnant piece of the tropical forest
that once covered a wide variety of marine
life.
With one of the most stunning, picturepostcard backdrops in the country, this is one
of the lushest places in Costa Rica, with
spectacular white-grey sand beaches fringed
by thickly forested green hills. There is a
huge variety of things to do- walking the
Park's easy trails, whitewater rafting, ocean
cruising, horseback riding, fishing, sea
kayaking, to name but a few.
Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica's best
known and most often visited park, despite
the fact that it's also the smallest. The park
is an island of verdant wildness in a rapidly
developing area with a relatively intact wet
tropical forest and abundant wildlife.
This park has a remarkably long list of
species inhabiting it: brown pelicans, brown
boobies, tyrant hawk-eagles, gray-headed
chachalacas, solater's ant bird, coatimundis,
two and three toed sloths, toed anteaters,
ocelots amongst others.
11-Ballena National Park
Size: 110 hectares of beach and coast and
5,400 hectares of sea.
kilometers.
Trails: None.
Ballena National Park is one of Costa Rica's
newest national parks, created in an attempt to
conserve some of the marine resources of the
South Pacific region, which are under siege
from over fishing and unchecked tourism
development. Bordered on the south by Punta
Piñuela, then extending out to sea for 9
kilometers, heading north 6 kilometers before
coming back to shore at Punta Uvita in the
southern end of Playa Hermosa, the park is
ideal for scuba diving and beachcombing
activities as it includes open ocean, islands and
long, wide beaches.
Several species of whales have been reported
in or near Ballena National Park, which gets its
name from the Spanish world for whale,
"ballena". Melon-headed whales, sperm
whales, as well as common stripped and
spinner dolphins are regularly spotted. More
species are sure to be recorded here, as more
complete studies are under way.
Ballena National Park is bordered on the south
by Punta Piñuela, and extends out to sea for 9
kilometers, heading north 6 kilometers before
coming back to shore at Punta Uvita, in the
southern end of Playa Hermosa.
12-Isla del Caño Biological Reserve
Size: 300 hectares.
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: January through March
Caño Island Biological Reserve lying about 20
kilometers off the Osa peninsula, northeast of
Corcovado National Park, is a site of great
archeological interest. The island was once
used as a pre-Colombian cemetery by cultures
with a clear South American influence and it's
still possible to see some of the perfectly
round stone spheres made by the former
natives of this land.
Wildlife is scarce, consisting mainly of
insects like bees, moths, beetles and
mosquitoes, as well as some frogs and small
lizards. Small vertebrates such as; pacas,
opossums, pigs and cattle egrets (the
predominant bird species), are also found
here.
The island is surrounded by five platforms of
low coral reefs. Camping areas have been
established, near the ranger station, where
you can also find potable water.
It rises 110 meters above sea level, and it's
composed mainly of small white sandy
beaches, that sometimes disappear with the
high tide
The greatest attractions of Caño Island lie
beneath the waters surrounding the island.
Skin Diver magazine has rated the site as
among the best in the world and one of the
newest hot spots for adventure diving. This
virgin area offers a variety of unique diving
attractions, from 15 - 16' reefs to 80'
"walls".
The rock formations are volcanic origins;
sea fans, cup coral, head corals are the
most common. Because of its status as a
Biological Reserve the diving in Caño Island
is regulated.
Only 10 divers maximum and 5 dive sites are
open to the public. By law, it is totally
prohibited to remove any marine objects dead
or alive (shells, corals, etc.). Although the
currents and visibility are difficult to predict,
the latter is usually outstanding and rarely
gets below 50'. The name of the game here is
"SHARKS"! Lots of them (white-tips) ranging
in size from 6-10' as well as sea turtles,
dolphins, stingrays, morays, and huge snapper
and grouper. This could very well be mainland
Costa Rica's finest diving spot! Find out more
about diving at Caño Island NOW!!!
13-Corcovado National Park
kilometers.
Trails: Yes.
Corcovado National Park located in the Osa
peninsula, in the southwest corner of the
country is an undeniably beautiful place,
considered to be one of the most important
natural preserves in the Americas. This
virgin rain forest park invites superlatives
from all who visit. The captivating visual
beauty of its forest and of its coastline, with
miles of uninhabited beaches and roaring
cascades, draws visitors from all over the
world.
There are 8 main habitats in this park,
mountain forest, cloud forest, alluvial plains,
swamp and holillo forest, fresh water
herbaceous swamp, mangrove swamp and a
rocky coastline.
At least thirteen distinct vegetation types
can be seen in close proximity, including
mangroves, palm swamps and blood weed
forest making Corcovado a botanist's dream.
With 500 species of trees, 140 species of
mammals, 367 species of birds, 40 species
of freshwater fishes and 117 species of
amphibians recorded here, it is easy to
understand why Corcovado National Park has
been called "the most biologically intense
place on Earth" by National Geographic.
Jaguars, giant anteaters, hundreds of whitelipped peccaries, tapers, red brocket deer,
margay cats, spider monkeys, and a host of
rare rain forest animals inhabit the vast
reaches while poisonous frogs, snakes. and
other lizards live surrounding the crocodilefilled lagoon at the park's center.
The foundation beneath Corcovado consists
of pillow basalts and gabros, possibly 50 to
56 million years old, however sedimentary
layers have been uncovered which date as
far back as 65 to 70 million years old. The
park is located in the Osa peninsula, in the
southwest corner of the country.
15-Cahuita National Park
kilometers.
Trails: Yes.
Dry Season: February, March, June,
September and October.
Cahuita National Park is located just
south of the town of Cahuita, about 43
kilometers south of Limón, on the
Caribbean coastline in one of the most
beautiful and scenic regions in Costa
Rica. Its main attractions are the white
sand beaches fringed with endless
coconut trees, a calm sea of transparent
waters and the coral reefs just offshore.
The most attractive feature for divers is
the underwater garden of marine life,
including several types of coral, such as
the brain and elkhorn coral. Also living in
this medium are large numbers of very
colorful tropical fish and invertebrates, like
urchins, sea fans, angelfish, blue
parrotfish, barracudas and stingrays,
amongst others.
There's also a great variety of land and air
animals, such as raccoons, crabs (land
and water), howler monkeys, kingfishers,
night herons, white-nosed coatis, frogs,
toads and snakes.
Most of Cahuita consists of a swamp
located in the depression that lies
between the coral platform and the
mainland. Other habitats in the park are
uninundated mixed forest and littoral
woodlands.
The most interesting feature of the park is
a shipwreck located on the north of the
mouth of the river Perezoso, which sank
in the 18th century and was used to
transport slaves.
16-Tortuguero National Park
Distance from San José: 254 kilometers by
land and water.
Trails: Limited.
Dry season: February through March.
Tortuguero National Park, located in the
northeast part of Costa Rica’s Atlantic coast, is
one of Costa Rica's best known parks, and not
without a reason. Besides being the most
important nesting site for the green turtle (July
to October), in the entire western half of the
Caribbean, it also serves as a refuge for other
turtles, such as leatherbacks, and hawkbills.
One of the country's most popular eco tourism
destinations, the canals, rivers, beaches, and
lakes of Tortuguero National Park "Costa Rica's
Amazon" are a working laboratory of rain
forest, freshwater, and marine biology.
The wildlife here is rich and varied. There are
unusually large populations of monkeys,
amphibians, birds and fish. Resident fauna include
the tapir, ocelots, jaguars, collared peccaries, river
otters, sloths, grisons (furry, weasel-like mammal
native to Mexico, Central America, and South
America), frogs, macaws, toucans, and the
fascinating bulldog bats which feed on fish.
The park and the refuge consist of a vast alluvial
floodplain formed by the coalescence of deltas from
rivers, twisting and meandering into the ancient
Nicaraguan Trench. The location of the area makes
it one of the wettest regions in the country.
The flora in this area is also very rich and abundant.
Some of the species found in this region are crab
wood, coconut trees, banak, tamarind, bully tree,
orchids, hollio palm, and heliconias.
17-Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge
Distance from San José: 99 kilometers
by airplane.
Trails: Limited.
Dry Season: February; March, and April.
Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge is located
in the north east corner of Costa Rica
bordering Nicaragua alongsides the San Juan
river, and next to Tortuguero National Park.
The two sides of the river are remarkably
different. The Nicaraguan side is covered
with dense primary forest, in sharp contrast
to Costa Rica's side, where the forest has long
ago fallen before the chainsaw and what
remains are big wetland forest and swamps,
that become vast alluvial floodplains during
the rainy season.
The wildlife here is varied, large populations
of monkeys and birds can be see throughout
the park. There are also some unusual
amphibians which abound on the banks of
streams, like the smoky and the glass frogs.
Take advantage of the chance to explore this
wilderness area throughout many days, either
if you are an experienced explorer or not,
there are guides and plenty of room where to
camp and many wet portions of the reserve
remain largely untouched.
One interesting phenomenon peculiar to the
San Juan River is the migration of Bull
Sharks, from the Atlantic Ocean upriver to
Lake Nicaragua. It's not clearly known why
these relatives of the great white shark make
the trip or how they adapt to the salinity
changes in the water.
18-Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge
kilometers.
Trails: Limited.
Dry Season: January through April.
This wilderness area of this park is made up
of a big lake and the marshlands
surrounding it, made by alluvial sediments.
It covers an expanse of approximately 800
hectares and its 3 meters deep. During the
dry season the lake almost dries up
completely.
This refuge is gaining popularity amongst
nature oriented tourists. The reason is that
the lake fills at the beginning of the rainy
season with the runoff from the river Frio.
This natural phenomenon creates a perfect
environment for birds to procreate, thus
providing a bird-watcher's paradise.
The variety of birdlife is astounding, in this
park the visitor can find spoonbills, white
ibis, northern jacana, woodstork, jaribu
(which is the largest bird, and seriously
endangered), ducks, and cattle egret. The
refuge also protects the only permanent
population of Nicaraguan grackle, an
endemic bird of the Lake Nicaragua Basin.
There are also many endangered animals
being protected here like pumas, jaguars,
ocelots and caymans , as well as some more
common species such as monkeys,
peccaries, raccoons, otters, sloths and deer.
The refuge lies close to the settlement of the
Malekus, direct descendants of the Guatuso
Indians that once lived in the area. This
reserve is located 165 kilometers straight
north from San José, southeast of the town
of Los Chiles, near the Nicaraguan border.
19-Rincón de la Vieja National Park
Trails: Yes.
Rincon de la Vieja is a strato volcano that
soars 1,916 meters above sea level and
spreads over 400 square kilometers. It was
formed by the simultaneous explosion of
several volcanic cones that grew and merged
into a single mountain. It has been possible
to identify 9 sites of volcanic activity on the
summit. One is active and the others are
slowly eroding.
Hot springs form small streams with very hot
water. Solfataric lakes (containing sulfur
dioxide) fill small hollows with constantly
bubbling muddy water. There's also vapor
holes, which become specially active during
the rainy season.
Studies carried out in the park have identified
257 species of birds, including the threewattled bellbird and the emerald toucanet.
There's also a small amount of mammals that
live in the park, like deer, peccaries, sloths,
pumas and tapirs.
Rincon de la vieja is located northeast of
Liberia, in Guanacaste. The park is usually
reached by taking a 21 kilometer dirt road,
best traveled on a four wheel drive vehicle.
20-Arenal Volcano National Park
Size: 12,060 hectares
The most characteristic feature of this
national park is the impressive and
majestic Arenal Volcano, an almost perfect
active cone 1,633 meters high, whose
regular eruptions offer one of the most
extraordinary and awe inspiring natural
sights in Costa Rica
The four most important types of vegetation in
the park are the perennial wet and very wet
forests that cover about 47% of the area.
There's also cloud forest and riverine
woodlands, where several endemic species can
be found, like the brunelia costaricensis and the
epiphytic pineapple.
Thirty-five species of fish, 135 species of
reptiles that include tortoises, snakes and
lizards, and 131 known species of
mammals can be found here. An amazing
53% of the species that make up the
national bird population are also found here
making this park and the surrounding area
a birdwatcher's paradise.
21-Poas National Park
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: December through April.
Poas is an strato volcano that soars 2,708
meters above sea level. It is one of the most
spectacular volcanoes in Costa Rica, with a
breathtaking scenery. It has also produced
excellent soil for cultivation and has
considerable potential for producing energy
from hydrological and geothermal resources.
Besides the main crater, Botos Lake and the
von Frantzius cone, there are at least half a
dozen piroclastic cones in the surrounding
savannah woodland of Redonda and Bajos del
Tigre. These cones are made of ash, lapilli,
fusiform bombs and small lava flows.
There are four main habitats in the park,
areas with little or no vegetation, an area of
arrayans, a stunted forest, and a cloud forest.
Examples of the flora include small cypress,
tucuico, small cedar and small cypres. The
dwarf forest predominates in this area.
There are some mammals that live in the
park. These include marmots (which are
marsupials), shrews that are amongst the
smallest mammals in the world, bats and over
79 avian species like sooty robins, black guan,
quetzal and the emerald toucanet.
The park is located northeast of the city of
Alajuela, which is situated near San Jose, in
the Centrall Valley.
22-Braulio Carrillo National Park
Size:45.899 hectares.
kilometers.
Trails:Yes.
Dry Season:From the two last weeks
of December through April.
This park is named after Dr. Braulio Carrillo, a
national benefactor and the third president of
Costa Rica. The park lies lies in one of the
most rugged regions in the country. Almost the
entire terrain is a jumble of towering volcanic
mountains.
The vegetation in the park consist of a very
thick evergreen forest with a highly complex
structure. The composition of the forest
changes depending on environmental
conditions, such as terrain, drainage,
temperature, cloud cover and rainfall. Most of
the park is covered with primary forest, trees
ferns, heliconias and a large number of palm
trees.
There is a wealth of wildlife, especially birds.
Some of the resident mammals are howler,
spider and white-faced monkeys, tapir, jaguar,
puma, paca, white-tailed deer, porcupine and
sloths.
Braulio Carrillo National Park is located 20 kilometers northeast of San José. The part of
Braulio Carrillo that most people see is the southern area on either side of the Siquirres
Highway on the Atlantic Coast.
23-Irazu Volcano National Park
Trails: Very Limited.
Irazu, or "the Powder Keg of Nature" as it
has been called, is an active strato volcano
with an irregular sub conical shape. It
towers 3,432 meters above sea level and
spreads over 500 square kilometers.
There are four craters at the summit of
Irazu, the main crater, anotherone named
Diego de la Haya, and two small craters
located on the northwest and southeast
areas of the park.
The vegetation has undergone considerable
alteration due to the eruptions. Today it's
possible to see areas with sparse plant
growth within the rim of the craters.
Elsewhere its possible to find of secondary
forest and patches of primary forest.
Wildlife in Irazu is very scarce. Some of the
mammals that have been seen near the
summit are the eastern cottontail (species of
rabbit), coyotes, armadillos, porcupine,
weasels and tiger cats. As far as birds is
concerned, hummingbirds woodpeckers and
mountain robins are a common sight, unlike
the eastern meadowlark, and long-tailed
ptinlogonys that have small recorded
populations.
24-Guayabo National Monument
Size: 218 hectares.
Trails: Yes.
Guayabo is the largest and most important
archeological site discovered to date in Costa
Rica. It forms part of the cultural region known
as Central Intermountain and Atlantic Basin.
Some of the features of the buildings point to
South America, while Mesoamerican evidence
is also present, a common occurrence due to
the "land bridge" nature of the Central
America geoposition.
The archeological importance of Guayabo has
been known since the end of the last century.
At that time several expeditions were carried
out to collect artifacts for museums and
private collections, and the complete
archeological collection of Costa Rica was
exhibited at the Historic-American Expo in
Madrid (1982).
Open secondary vegetation grows in the areas
near the archeological site as the result of
logging carried out in the region many years
ago. Most of the species are pioneering and
include burio, guana and trumpet tree.
Wildlife is poor and scarce due to the small
size of the monument. The most visible
animals are birds, especially the keel-billed
toucan and the Montezuma oropendola.
Insects, lizards and frogs are a few frequently
seen examples of the fauna.
25-Tapantí National Park
Camping: Permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Tapantí National park, sometimes called Orosí
National Park, is a National Park in the Pacific
La Amistad Conservation Area of Costa Rica,
located on the edge of the Talamanca range,
near Cartago Just 90 minutes drive from San
José. It portects forests to the north of
Chirripo National Park, and also contains part
of Orosí River.
This park has two main life zones, the lower
montane rain forest and the premontane rain
forest. This forests are home to over 45
different species of mammals including
kinkajous, tapir, deer, raccoons and monkeys.
There are also 260 kinds of birds, the most
common are the quetzal, hawks, falcons,
parrots and humming birds. Additionally 28
species of reptiles have been identified, which
include snakes, toads, frogs, and
salamanders.
26-La Amistad International Park
Trails: Limited.
Dry season: Effectively none, but december
through March is dryer on the western slope.
This is Costa Rica's larges, most remote, and least
known parks. Its vast upland wilderness hugs the
southern part of the continental divide. Costa Rica
has about half of the park, the other half being in
Panama, and it represents one of the first attempts
to create and manage an international protected
area. In 1983, Talamanca Range-La Amistad
Reserves / La Amistad National Park was declared
by the UNESCO as a Natural Heritage Site of
Humanity.
The elevation within the confines of the park
ranges from 200 to 3,549 meters. One of the most
interesting geomorphic discoveries made in
Chirripo is the existence of several glacial features
that are almost perfectly preserve.
There is an astonishing number of habitats within this vast
wilderness area as a result of differences in altitude, soil,
climate and topography. They include paramos, swamp,
oak forest, madrono forest, fern groves, high mixed forest
and very moist evergreen forest.
There's an extraordinary array of wildlife, identification
has been made of 263 species of amphibians and
reptiles, about 400 birds and at least 500 species of
trees, alongside 130 different species of orchids. The
most common animals are the tapir, jaguars, ocelots,
peccaries, otters, porcupine, skunks, giant anteater
and salamanders.
27-Hitoy-Cerere Biological Reserve
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: None.
Hitoy-Cerere derives its name from two
words in a local indigenous language, hitoy
means "wooly", in reference to the green
blanket that covers everything and cerere
means, "water", because of the abundance of
rivers and streams.
This park hasn't been studied in depth and
its not often visited, because of its
precipitous terrain and wet climate but these
two factors have produced a biological
diversity that may prove to be one of the
richest in Costa Rica.
The temperature is consistently warm with
daytime temperatures averaging around 25
degrees C and rain is possible any time of
the year.
The reserve is surrounded on three sides by
indigenous people's reserves, the Telire to
the west, Talamanca to the South and Tayni
to the north. To the east and in the lowlands
are the massive banana plantations of the
Estrella valley and it is through this area that
the reserve is accessible.
28-Chirripó National Park
Camping: Permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Dry Season: December through March.
Chirripó National Park, which boasts the highest
peak in Costa Rica at 3.820 meters above sea
level, is located near the town of San Isidro de
General about 60 miles southeast of San Jose.
The main route into the park is located northeast
of the town of San Gerardo de Rivas.
The upper reaches of the park, often cold and
almost always cloaked in mist, contain the
northernmost example of the "paramo" life zone,
which is typical of high-elevation plains much
farther south. The park also contains extensive
areas of lower montane and montane rain forest
and offers excellent opportunities for wildlife
observation and nature photography. Coyotes,
jaguars, other felines, squirrels, rabbits, frogs,
bird's owls and quetzals are the most common
species found.
Chirripó is also one of the few areas suitable for
technical rock climbing.
The park experiences wide temperature
variation. It can be as warm as 24 degrees C
during the day and then drop to freezing at
night. The altitude change between sea level and
the high country is severe enough to give some
people altitude sickness, particularly if they've
spent a week or two in a dugout canoe or lying
on the beach. It is best to plan a trip here after
having spent at least a week hiking at a midelevation place such as Rincon de la Vieja or
Monteverde to begin the process of
acclimatization.
29-Golfito National Wildlife Refuge
Camping: Permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Dry season: January to March.
The Golfito Refuge lies in a rugged
wilderness area with very heavy rains.
The terrain was formed by a succession of
hard basalts that date 50-65 million years
old.
The forest in the refuge is thick, very
evergreen. A fairly common palm that grows
here is the black palm. Also there's a botanical
raruty found here, the quira (Carydaphnopsis
burgeri), a tree that belongs to the Lauraceae
family, a very primitive plant.
There are many resident mammals in this
refuge, the collared peccary is a highly
social animal that lives in herds. the
agouti is a rodent that belongs to the same
family as the paca and its helpful
spreading seeds from plants. There are
also raccoons, coati, rats and some reptiles
like frogs and snakes.
30-Isla Bolaños National Wildlife Refuge
Size: 25 hectares.
Trails: Around the Island.
Bolaños Island is an oval-shaped rocky mound, 81 meters high, that lies 1,5 kilometers off
Punta Descartes, on the northwest region of the country. Its rugged terrain consists of
numerous layers of sedimentary rock that are approximately 40 million years old.
The scarce vegetation is made up of stunted
forest, which is very thick and difficult to
penetrate. It grows almost two meters high on
very rock soils with very little organic material.
The forest, which completely looses its leaves
during the dry season, consists mainly of paira
and some medium-sized trees, such as
fraginipani and lancewood.
Bolaños is especially important for the
conservation of seabirds. It protects one of
the few known nesting sites in the country
for colonies of brown pelican and also it's
the only nesting site discovered to date for
the magnificent frigatebird.
There is a white, sandy beach at the eastern tip
of the island with mounds of seashells and
clams. At low tide its possible to walk round
the island and gives visitors a chance to glance
at several species of crab that live and mate
here, specially the large sized land crab.
31-Guayabo, Negritos & Pajaros Island
Biological Reserves
Size: 6,8 - 80 and 3,8 hectares
respectively.
kilometers.
Camping: Not permitted.
Trails: On Guayabo Island.
Dry season: January to March.
These four islands -negritos are two- are
located on the Gulf of Nicoya. The reason
for setting them aside as biological reserves
was to preserve the large population of sea
birds, together with the local flora and fauna.
Guayabo is an imposing mound that towers
50 meters high. Its mostly composed of
sedimentary rock between 60-80 million
years old. The vegetation that covers the
island consists of shrubs, small plants and
thorn bushes. The wildlife, except for small
insects and crustaceans like crabs, is
exclusively made up of birds, including the
brown pelican, frigate birds, laughing gulls
and boobies.
Pajaros Island is almost completely round
and dome-shaped. It's composed of the
same kind of sandstone and luttie as
Guayabo Island. The vegetation consists of
a low-growing forest and patches of secondgrowth grass. The predominant species are
guava, crown fig and stinking toe. Resident
animals include rock oysters, crustaceans
like barnacles, and birds outcasted from
other groups.
Negritos Islands are composed of basalts
that belong to the Nicoya Complex. They are
covered with semi-deciduous forest in which
predominant species are frangipani, spiny
cedar and gumbo-limbo. Monkey's ladder, a
medical creeper is found in abundance here.
Some of the animals that live in this island
are the raccoon, parrots, doves, hermit crabs
(which are very numerous), brown pelicans
and oysters. There some populations of
dolphin tuna and mackerel around the island
as well.
32-Curu National Wildlife Reserve
Size: 84 hectares.
kilometers.
Trails: Yes.
Curu Refuge is located in the lovely region of
Nicoya Guanacaste. Despite its small size, it
houses a great variety of both terrestrial and
marine biodiversity.
The existing habitats include semi-deciduous
forest with a mixture of evergreen and semideciduous species, low growing forest near
the beach, mangrove swamps and littoral
woodland. Some of the larges trees in these
forest are the silk cotton, the Panama and
the redwood.
Mammals that can be seen in both the
refuge and the neighboring forests include
the white-tailed deer, raccoons, pacas,
opossums, monkeys, coyotes and coaties.
There's also a lot of species of lizards, the
most common is the ctenosaur, the green
iguana and boa constrictor. Birds can also
be found here in abundance, such species
like the laughing falcon, broad-winged hawk
and the cattle egret are a common sight.
Aquatic life include nocturnal hermit crabs,
which are very numerous on the beach and
on land. There is an almost extinct species
of oyster (Ocypode occidentalis) can be
found here, as well as lobsters, chitons and
mouthless crabs.
33-Juan Castro Blanco National Park
Location: Northwestern end of Costa
Rica's Central Valley.
Trails: Limited.
This national park stands at the northwestern end of the Central Valley, becoming part of
the Central Volcanic Range Conservation Area together with other nearby protected areas.
Juan Castro Blanco National Park was set up
to protect a strip of primary and secondary
woodland, located between 700 and 2,267
meters above the sea level. Three life zones
contain the abundant plant life, premontane
rain forest, very wet premontane forest and
low montane rain forest.
This national park offers 44 species of
amphibians, 15% of the national total of
reptiles, 107 species of birds and 30
mammals, 64 of these species are classified
as threatened or endangered in Costa Rica.
Some of the most common animals are the
harlequin and grass frogs, basiliks, quetzal,
bat falcon, cuckoos, tapirs and coyotes.
Some archeological finds in the area revealed
that the region was a meeting place for
cultures from the north and the south
continent.
34-Isla del Coco National Park
Camping: Not permitted.
Trails: Yes.
Cocos Island called Costa Rica's Galapagos, is
a verdant bouquet in the middle of the sea,
discovered by spanish pilot Joan Cabezas in
1526. Thanks to its palm trees and plentiful
drinking water, this oceanic island became
very well known. During the 17th and 18th
centuries, it served as an excellent hide-away
for the pirates who flourished along the Pacific
coast of Spanish America.
The island is located approximately 500km. off
the pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is famous for
three buried treasures hidden by William
Davis, Benito Bonito and William Thompson
between 1684 and 1821.
Besides fabled riches, it is the unique flora and
fauna of the island that have attracted
numerous international scientists and
naturalists. This island is considered a natural
laboratory, to date 85 species of birds have
been identified, of which three are endemic to
the island. There are also two species reptiles
autochthonous to this area, and over 20% of
the insects are also endemic.
The predominant vegetation includes cupey,
huriki (large endemic tree), spermatophytes,
ferns and mosses.
Birds such as the cuckoo and the Cocos Island
flycatcher live amongst goats, pigs, and deers.
The jagged coast is lined with cliffs that tower
up to 183 meters high and are riddled with
underwater caves. This amazingly transparent
waters teem with marine life.
Sharks abound everywhere, especially gigantic
hammerheads, but there are also white-tipped
sharks, and even some whale-sharks have
been spotted in this area. Other fish that live
in this waters are jacks, tuna, parrot fish and
manta.
In December 1967, the island was declared by the UNESCO as a Natural Heritage Site of Humanity; in May
1998, it was declared as a International Importance Wetland by RAMSAR, and in December 2002, Cultural
Historic Site by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCJD) of Costa Rica.

See Map for a Guide to Parks and Protected Areas

Transcription

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